# Who killed Batman's parents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613 "2017-12-16T05:31:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/41 "2017-12-17T16:53:55Z")
FWIW I always felt Batman’s mythology worked best if the criminal was just some nameless nobody. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2017, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/42 "2017-12-17T17:12:05Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > FWIW I always felt Batman’s mythology worked best if the criminal was just some nameless nobody. I don’t mind Joe Chill as a character, depending on how he’s handled. I actually really liked how _Batman Begins_ handled it: put a name on the murderer, have the police arrest him, have young Bruce Wayne sit across from the poor schmuck who was forced into crime out of economic desperation, and have Wayne realize, “This isn’t what killed my parents. My parents and Joe Chill are both victims of a system that takes people and turns them into Joe Chills.” And thats what he spends his life fighting - crime lords, corrupt politicians, and the occasional murder clown. The whole, “If he catches the guy who killed his parents, he’d stop being Batman,” is something I don’t care for. I’m not a fan of stories that pathologize Batman’s crime fighting. Batman’s a hero. He fights crime because people need help, and he’s able to help them. If Batman catches Joe Chill and delivers him to justice, the next night, he’s still going to put on the cape and cowl, because locking up a mook like Joe Chill isn’t going to stop The Joker from poisoning the reservoir. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/43 "2017-12-17T17:56:36Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > THIS is why I hate revisiting the origins of characters so often. It gets so muddy as to make everything meaningless. I refused to ever watch an episode of Gotham, as it looked to be a recipe for fucking over everything we thought we knew about Batman’s formative years seven ways from Sunday. I read/collected for a few years, even worked at a shop, but the constant reboots rubbed me wrong and sort of served to temper my interest. Gotham works for me because as a kid I was strictly Marvel. I’m not invested in the old stories. But I can see how it can distract from your enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/44 "2017-12-17T18:12:16Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t mind Joe Chill as a character, depending on how he’s handled. I actually really liked how _Batman Begins_ handled it: put a name on the murderer, have the police arrest him, have young Bruce Wayne sit across from the poor schmuck who was forced into crime out of economic desperation, and have Wayne realize, “This isn’t what killed my parents. My parents and Joe Chill are both victims of a system that takes people and turns them into Joe Chills.” And thats what he spends his life fighting - crime lords, corrupt politicians, and the occasional murder clown. > > The whole, “If he catches the guy who killed his parents, he’d stop being Batman,” is something I don’t care for. I’m not a fan of stories that pathologize Batman’s crime fighting. Batman’s a hero. He fights crime because people need help, and he’s able to help them. If Batman catches Joe Chill and delivers him to justice, the next night, he’s still going to put on the cape and cowl, because locking up a mook like Joe Chill isn’t going to stop The Joker from poisoning the reservoir. I wouldn’t go that far. I think Batman should see Joe Chill as the problem not another victim of circumstances. But I agree that having Joe Chill be an insignificant criminal rather than a supervillain is an important part of keeping Batman motivated. There’s only going to be one Joker but there will always be a never-ending line of Joe Chills. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/45 "2017-12-18T15:54:06Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > FWIW I always felt Batman’s mythology worked best if the criminal was just some nameless nobody. As do I. If it was somebody anonymous, Batman can never have closure. He has to fight crime because “crime” is what killed his parents. Not the Joker or Joe Chill or anyone he can blame specifically. Batman can catch all the bad guys he wants, but he can never make it not happen. He has to be driven, and if he were ever to be able to catch the one who he can blame, it would remove the central motivator for his life. It’s like the movie _Memento_ - he needs a purpose in life, and if he resolved his central conflict, he doesn’t have the option of just not remembering it. It would break him. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/46 "2017-12-18T18:13:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It’s like the movie _Memento_ - he needs a purpose in life, and if he resolved his central conflict, he doesn’t have the option of just not remembering it. It would break him. > > Regards, > Shodan So what you’re saying is that Batman needs to wear a costume in order to hide his memory tattoos? [And the Memento/Batman movie is now starting to become strangely real in my head…] ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/47 "2017-12-18T19:19:20Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Burton’s film is, I think, the only version where the Joker killed his parents. It’s an idea that, thankfully, never caught on. Although they did do a story in an alternate timeline where Joe Chill kills Bruce, and his mom becomes the Joker. His dad, obviously, becomes Batman. That was the Flashpoint timeline (dammit, Barry!). ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/48 "2017-12-23T01:06:42Z")
Even in Batman 89 Joker is a poor, incorrect answer, it was Jack Napier, decades before Batman caused him to become Joker in the chemical plant accident. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/49 "2017-12-23T16:08:24Z")
And in even greater example of comic book “Small World Syndrome”, you have _this_ character: > **[Mrs. Chilton (Earth-One)](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Mrs._Chilton_(Earth-One))** > > Mrs. Chilton was the mother of Joe Chill and a housekeeper for Philip Wayne. Mrs. Chilton became close friends with Philip's nephew, Bruce, who became his ward after his parents, Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha, were murdered. Because Philip was... ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/50 "2017-12-23T17:10:41Z")
I just thought it was someone in The Purple Gang. In jailhouse rock, the WHOLE rhythm section was The Purple Gang! Srsly, I am no fan of Bats nor a scholar, but that was what I had always heard from them that are. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/51 "2017-12-23T17:54:33Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > C’mon. To do something like that, a kid would have to be batshit crazy. > > …ohhhh Your honor, we are prepared to prove that the defendant was under the influence of bat guano fumes at the time of his parents death and thus was not culpable for his actions. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2017, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/52 "2017-12-23T18:05:01Z")
I blame Donald Trump. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/53 "2017-12-24T18:35:17Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I blame Donald Trump. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/54 "2017-12-29T06:54:22Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > It was Patrick Bateman. The subtle off-white color and raised lettering of Thomas Wayne’s business card sent him into a murderous rage. I mean, it even had a watermark. To be fair, he just had to kill a LOT of people. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613/55 "2017-12-29T18:13:43Z")
If you look carefully in the opening credits of _Watchmen_, you’ll see that Nite Owl actually _prevented_ the murder of the Waynes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-batmans-parents/804613.md?page=2)